Air Combat Command will combine this summer its 24th and 25th air forces to integrate cyber, electronic warfare, information operations and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance activities at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland in Texas, the Air Force reported Thursday.
“The merger of 24th and 25th is the next step in leveraging and integrating new ideas and technologies to both improve the quality and speed of decision-making and deliver improved effects for commanders,†said Gen. Mike Holmes, commander of Air Combat Command. “This formalizes the existing collaborations between cyber and ISR while expanding our competitive space in EW and IO, also improving readiness and increasing lethality across the range of military operations – all vital to the success of multi-domain warfighting in the 21st century,†Holmes added.
The integration seeks to provide more options for combatant commanders, support National Defense Strategy priorities and deliver the first information warfare numbered air forces to establish the service branch’s ability to provide electromagnetic spectrum capabilities.